Paper Example on Believing Women in Islam: Unread Patriarchal Readings of the Qur'an

Barlas, Asma. Believing women in Islam: Unread patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an. University of Texas Press, 2019.

Barlas illustrates the patriarchal aspect of the Quran. The author mentions the patriarchal nature of the Quran teachings, which are not framed in terms of the claims made by the modern or traditional patriarchies. However, the revelation of the Quran to the patriarchal society illustrates patriarchy since medieval times. The author aims to challenge the oppressive and patriarchal nature of the Quran and demonstrate the struggle of women in the framework of the Quran teachings as opposed to what the progressive Islam communities believe. Barlas focuses on the Quran citing problems with patriarchal interpretations that allow women to be oppressed.

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“Esposito, John L. "Women's Rights in Islam." Islamic Studies 14, no. 2 (1975): 99-114.

According to Esposito, a belief accepted in Islamic society and is pushed on by practices such as the seclusion and the veiling of women is the view that the Islamic culture does not provide laws to protect women. Still, it ensures that men are subjugated. This is a commonly found reality that is seen all through Islamic history. Most policies and laws that guide the development of women's low status were developed under social custom influence present in both the ancient and medieval periods. After the infiltration of these beliefs into the Islamic culture, they were taken in as norms and were accepted and associated with the Islamic society as the accepted social standards.

Green, Monica H. "Conversing with the minority: relations among Christian, Jewish, and Muslim women in the high middle ages." Journal of Medieval History 34, no. 2 (2008): 105-118.

Green uses this article to illustrate how women in medieval times established relations. This article aims to explore the different ways in which women in different religions shared various aspects of their lives. Either due to their ethnicities and social relations linked with their religions or by the different events that brought them together, such as their gender roles of childbirth. By looking at the various places where women were present, the author can find the different dialogues conducted among women in different religions. This relation of women in different religions outlines the differences in ideologies that have been highlighted in dialogue and assist in bringing out the challenges.

“Honarvar, Nayer. “Behind the veil: Women's rights in Islamic societies." Journal of Law and Religion 6, no. 2 (1988): 355-387.

This article focuses on the rights women have in Islamic societies. According to Honarvar, this subject is highly insignificant to the people that live in these communities. Based on various literatures, most of the information present is relatively biased towards the expression of males towards the rights of women. One of the reasons for this is that women, the main characters in this topic, do not have enough education to be well informed on their privileges and rights. Throughout history, a minimal number of people have attempted to advocate for the issues. The unfortunate position of this is that women are illiterate and not knowledgeable about their rights.

Lange, Christian. Justice, punishment, and the medieval Muslim imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Lange uses this article to explore the use of violence in medieval Islamic societies, the government's role in punishment, and the strategies used to cope with the suffering caused by punishment. Lange also uses these thoughts to study punishment in medieval society. The book looks at the relationship between society and the state in giving out justice. It also looks at the attitudes Muslims had to afterlife punishments and the laws regarding punishment. It has explored a multidisciplinary approach based on Arabic and Persian sources and explores the relation between executive power and the Islamic criminal law in medieval times.

“Rapoport, Yossef. Marriage, money, and divorce in medieval Islamic society. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

By comparing the divorce rates to the ideal of marriage, according to Islam, Rapoport can challenge the common assumption of the legal subjection of women in Islamic society and the economic reliance on men. The author also brings up an argument that marriages in the medieval Islamic society had little to do with the patriarchal societal model that was advocated by the moralists and the jurists. The movement of dowry, access of women to paid labor, and the separation of properties after divorce eased the divorce process. The book is a well-researched work illustrating the social history linked with medieval lives' accounts.

Segol, Marla. "Representing the Body in Poems by Medieval Muslim Women." In Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 147-169. Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, 2009.

Segol collects different Arabic poetry written by Islamic women in medieval times. These have been studied minimally mainly because they are believed not to reflect the experiences of the various people who wrote them. Since the material is a piece of art, and not a life writing or history, scholars believe the relation of the poems to individual experiences is mediated. Therefore, it cannot be used to express what the majority of women went through. The author, however, disagrees and highlights that while poetry does not concretely contribute to the understanding of women, it illustrates the different ways in which women perceived their social roles.

“Shatzmiller, Maya.”Women and wage labor in the medieval Islamic west: legal issues in an economic context." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 40, no. 2 (1997): 174-206.

Evidence obtained as the medieval period was ending towards the 15th century illustrates that the presence of women in the labor locations was highly diversified and considerable. Shatzmiller, in this paper, aims to look through the different ways in which the waged labor for women was regulated, controlled, and affected by the judges, courts, and policies. The article also highlights the adjustments to the admission of the customary law and the family law. More importantly, it was an approach that was adapted and inspired to the framework of different property rights of the women, and therefore it was beneficial to them.

Syed, Jawad. "A context-specific perspective of equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies." Asia Pacific Journal of Management 25, no. 1 (2008): 135-151.

In this paper, Syed aims to bring out a perspective specific to the context of gender equality and its impact on equal employment opportunities in Islam community. The article looks through the different approaches in the Islamic view of gender that may affect females' employment in informal sectors. This paper also demonstrates the main differences between Islamic societies’ different gender ideologies and the likelihood of similar opportunities for waged labor opportunities for both men and women. Additionally, the article illustrates that the presence of change to transform the social societies and the laws regarding employment in Islamic societies should be guided using features of both informal and formal institutions.

Zine, Jasmin. "Muslim women and the politics of representation." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19, no. 4 (2002): 1-22.

Zine uses this article to illustrate the politics of knowledge production and its relation to Muslim women in literature and writing. It aids in understanding the economic, ideological, and political mediations that have framed these representations. The narrative of Muslim women has been converted from medieval literature to the colonial figures of suppressed women. Also, feminist writing has brought out colonial motifs, which have since been maintained. The author expresses the different challenges that come about due to how women are represented in Islamic societies. Zine uses literature and writing analysis to find the cause of women representation that has facilitated patriarchy.

Bibliography

Barlas, Asma. Believing women in Islam: Unread patriarchal interpretations of the Qur'an. University of Texas Press, 2019.

Esposito, John L. "Women's Rights in Islam." Islamic Studies 14, no. 2 (1975): 99-114.

Green, Monica H. "Conversing with the minority: relations among Christian, Jewish, and Muslim women in the high middle ages." Journal of Medieval History 34, no. 2 (2008): 105-118.

Honarvar, Nayer. "Behind the veil: Women's rights in Islamic societies." Journal of Law and Religion 6, no. 2 (1988): 355-387.

Lange, Christian. Justice, punishment, and the medieval Muslim imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

Rapoport, Yossef. Marriage, money, and divorce in medieval Islamic society. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Segol, Marla. "Representing the Body in Poems by Medieval Muslim Women." In Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 147-169. Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, 2009.

Shatzmiller, Maya. "Women and wage labor in the medieval Islamic west: legal issues in an economic context." Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 40, no. 2 (1997): 174-206.

Syed, Jawad. "A context-specific perspective of equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies." Asia Pacific Journal of Management 25, no. 1 (2008): 135-151.

Zine, Jasmin. "Muslim women and the politics of representation." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19, no. 4 (2002): 1-22.